


You've Got a Friend in Me

by SlytherinHowl



Series: The Ferris-Wheel AU series [4]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bittersweet, Elderly Parents, F/M, Family Fluff, How Do I Tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:15:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinHowl/pseuds/SlytherinHowl
Summary: Remembering times gone by. Singing an old song.
Relationships: Jorah Mormont/Daenerys Targaryen
Series: The Ferris-Wheel AU series [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1471217
Comments: 17
Kudos: 25





	You've Got a Friend in Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fanoftheknight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanoftheknight/gifts).



> Once again,@fanoftheknight plays an important part in my creative process, whatever that may be. I can never thank her enough. You know that already, but this is for you.

Over the last 33 years, the house had barely changed. The small lemon tree under the window grew tall and strong, wielding enormous lemons every year, the door was still red, the rooms still full of books and various items from foreign places. The three cats who had once ruled over the house had long gone to a better place and where once hung paintings now hang pictures of some familiar faces, high cheekbones, fair hair, and blue eyes all mixed together to form the world’s second most beautiful women, in Jorah Mormont’s opinion. Helaena and Alys had both grown into stunning women, tall, lean, powerful and kind, but the one lady to still turn his head was his tiny wife, her wrinkles and her thin white hair, carefully kept in place with many pins. 

At 85, Jorah’s body was starting to fail him, the Parkinson’s took over his hands, his memory faded little by little, but he still felt nothing short of exhilaration whenever Daenerys laid her head on his chest and he got to pet her soft short hair. His joy only grew when his beautiful girls visited them in the old house and he felt young again, renewed. A part of him felt a pang of sadness knowing Helaena didn’t want to have children under any circumstances and that Alys and her girlfriend were too busy with their game design company to think of giving him and Daenerys grandchildren, but the sadness went away whenever he thought of how happy his wonderful daughters seemed to be. 

That particular morning was spent in anticipation; his girls were coming to visit. Daenerys helped him out of bed and into nice clothes, they were going out to eat. He certainly felt a bit powerless not being able to care for his wife as much as she cared for him, but he never once doubted his love for her nor her love for him. One of the good things that age brought Jorah was the confidence that his Daenerys loved him deeply and that all his past insecurities where unfounded. 

The elderly couple sat in their living room, his hand clasped tightly in hers as they waited for their children to come pick them up. Helaena dropped by quite often, but Alys had been coming and going to Dragonstone and Highgarden for work too often, leaving her with little time to do anything but work. She had sounded excited in her shy way when she called them a week prior, telling them that she’d made reservations for the Dornish restaurant they loved. 

The doorbell finally rang. Jorah would have leapt to his feet had his increasingly frail body allowed him too, but the large smile on his face made up for his inability to move quickly. His heart fluttered a little seeing his tall girls enveloping their mother in big hugs. They both had his eyes and his angular features and Alys had his darker hair, but the two sisters couldn’t look more different. He laughed heartily at the new bear tattoo covering yet another bit of skin on Helaena’s arm and took in Alys’ striking figure in her long flowery dress and wide-brimmed hat. 

“Daddy, I’m so sorry for not being able to visit you two more often these past months. I’ve been crazy busy with the new game. I brought something for you and Mum, though,” Alys said, stroking her father’s beard softly. Jorah leant into her touch as his eyes shone with pure affection for his girl. 

“It’s good to know you haven’t forgotten this old bear, my sweet.” 

“What Alys means by ‘something’ is this,” Helaena said, pulling a USB drive from her trouser pocket, “I found an old hard drive when going through some old boxes at home, so I sent it to Alys to see what was in there. You know how good I am with technology,” the four shared a laugh at that, “she found loads of pictures and videos of us.” 

“How lovely, Laena! Can we see them?” Daenerys asked. 

“The reservation at the restaurant has a set time. We’ll show you what’s in there once we come back.” 

Jorah and Daenerys agreed on it. In spite of his weak muscles and frail health, Jorah eagerly followed his three girls to the restaurant. After some cajoling, Daenerys relented and let him drink a glass of wine with her and Alys. He felt content and alive there, holding his wife's hand as his daughters told them of their projects and lives. They were his pride and joy, even when Helaena was too stubborn and Alys too gloomy. His girls were the proof of his love for Daenerys and his road to a new and improved life. 

They left the restaurant with matching smiles on their faces. Neither could wait to get home and see whatever pictures the two Mormont siblings had found. When they returned to the old house, Laena helped her parents settle comfortably on the sofa while Alys fumbled with the TV. When the first picture finally appeared on the screen, Jorah and Daenerys smiled tenderly at their daughters. The three women stood wrapped in Jorah's strong arms in front of a pink castle, both young girls dressed as princesses. 

"Do you two remember this trip?" Daenerys asked wistfully, laying her head on Jorah's shoulder. 

"I remember being excited to tell Alice we had the same name, but then Helaena told me they were not the same and I got sad," Alys said, shooting a false glare at her cackling older sister. 

"You've always been pretty much like Alice in Wonderland, I'll give you that, sis." 

"Yeah, but I left the shrooms for you." 

"Alys!" Jorah exclaimed. 

"I've got nothing to hide, dad. Right, mum?" Helaena shot back, grinning wickedly at her mother. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Daenerys said, but her wry smile said the opposite. Jorah's eyebrows shot up at her, "don't look at me like that! I've never done shrooms! Just marijuana." 

Jorah huffed and kissed his wife's forehead. "I'm in no position to judge, darling." 

They kept going through the pictures with increasingly nostalgic smiles on their faces. Before their eyes, they saw Helaena learning to ride a bike, baby Alys smiling at the camera, both girls splashing in a pool, Jorah and Daenerys kissing in a waterfall, candid pictures of their wedding. 

"The man next to you is Grandpa Jeor, isn't he, dad?" Alys asked as she eyes scanned a picture of her parents on their wedding day, flanked by aunt Missy and a man who looked so much like her father. She was too young when he died, but Helaena remembered her grandfather clearly and lovingly. 

"Aye," Jorah said quietly, suddenly engulfed by the past. Jeor hadn't been a good father, but Jorah hadn't been a good son either. How much time had the two wasted? Why couldn't their story have been like that picture, bright and peaceful? Jorah didn't realise he was crying until Daenerys wiped away a tear from his cheek and kissed his temple. 

"Pity you don't remember him, Alys. He was a fantastic grandfather," Helaena said, reaching out to squeeze her father's hand and discreetly wiping a tear of her own. 

"Yes, yes, he was. But he would have thrown a fit if he saw you covered in tattoos and with your hair cut so short, Laena," Daenerys quipped lightly. 

The next thing to appear on the screen wasn't simply a picture, it was a video. The girls didn't understand why straight away, but Daenerys started laughing as soon as Jorah, six-year-old Helaena and barely six-months-old Alys appeared on screen. He had his old guitar on his lap and his little girl sat beside him, wearing a red cowboy hat and carefully holding her little sister. 

"Ready, darling?" The Jorah in the video asked his daughter. 

"Yes, daddy!" 

Jorah started playing a song that both Mormont girls knew very well, their family song. Their father's sweet voice echoed in the room as he sang the first verse of you “You’ve Got A Friend In Me.” No professional singer could sing it as beautifully as Jorah did, looking at his little girls in adoration, no one had ever owned a song as much as he did whenever he sang to his daughters. Helaena joined him in the second verse and the two different voices tugged at the heartstrings of the four people watching that sweet memory years later. Little Alys didn’t quite understand what was happening, but her excited shrieks made up for it. They could hear Daenerys chuckling, even though she did not appear on the video. 

"You're my best friend, daddy!" little Helaena exclaimed after singing the last two lines with her father and Jorah's tears returned with a vengeance, albeit for a different reason. 

None of them knew exactly why, but Alys slipped from her seat on Jorah's armchair and sat on the floor near her parents' feet. Jorah was glad she did, he was glad to run one shaky hand through her golden hair and hold Helaena's with the other. The shame and regret he still felt when he thought of his father were replaced by longing and inexplicable sadness. His time on this earth was ending, soon Daenerys' would be too. What then? Would his girls still remember the song? Would it still matter? He wanted to let his little dragons fly but he wanted to turn back time and forever be their safe haven as he had been for so long. Now they were his. Jorah felt small and powerless in his weakened body. As if reading his mind, Daenerys wrapped her arm around his head, pressing her nose to his face. 

"Oh, you sentimental man, you've raised two of the strongest and loveliest people I've ever known. Don't fear for them," she whispered gently in his ear. 

"And dad?" Helaena said, delicately turning his face to her, "we know you're prone to self-doubt, but by the Seven stop thinking we're gonna forget that you exist as soon as we leave the house. I didn't spend five hours getting my arm prickled by a needle for nothing."

Jorah chuckled lightly at his daughter, wiping another tear away, "You three know me better than I know myself." 

'Maybe because you still are our best friend, daddy," Alys whispered with her head on his knees. 

Jorah smiled through his tears and sighed. Some other folks might be a little bit smarter than he is, bigger and stronger too, maybe. But none of them will ever love his girls the way Jorah does.


End file.
